The Dave Foster Band Talk New Album, Musical Influences And More

The Anglo-Dutch progressive pop act The Dave Foster Band have released the LP and CD formats of their third album ‘Maybe They’ll Come Back For Us’. Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Dave Foster and vocalist Dinet Poortman very graciously took the time to talk to us at JLTT:

Who is in The Dave Foster Band, what do they play and how did you meet?

Dave: The band is essentially Dinet and myself though we do have regular players with us for example drummer Leon Parr who I play with in the Steve Rothery Band is one of my best mates so he is nearly always part of it. We met on a hazy drunken night at a Marillion weekend after being introduced to each other by Steve Rothery.

Dinet: Ah yes, that was quite a few years ago, we met at Port Zelande after Dave played there with Mr. So and So. He indeed had a few beers to drink.

When did you begin songwriting and recording music?

Dave: I think it must have been 2008, after meeting Dinet she invited me to send something over to her to see if inspiration would grab her. That track became ‘Paradox’ from Gravity.

Dinet: I remember sending Dave some stuff from my previous bands and feeling quite anxious about the whole thing, if he’d feel I was actually good enough. Apparently he did.

Your new album ‘Maybe They’ll Come Back For Us’ is out now on CD and Vinyl LP and released digitally on 28th June 2024. How did you want to approach the making of the record?

Dave: I really wanted a ‘live band’ approach as much as we could achieve but also something quite deep, so you would find little sonic treats long after the first listen.

The kind of album I used as sonic examples for Al Unsworth the engineer were Bellybutton by Jellyfish and A Momentary Lapse of Reason by Pink Floyd.

Dinet: I didn’t really have any thoughts of how I wanted to approach it, other than that I wanted it to be at least better than the last one we recorded (Glimmer). And although that was not easy, I think we managed to pull that off!

Where did you record the album and who produced it?

Dave: It was largely recorded at my house as both Dinet and I are really comfortable in that environment. We recorded guitars, keys and all vocals at my house but we also used a great studio near me called The Forge in Oswestry to record drums, a bit of guitar and all of Neil Fairclough’s bass parts. It was produced by me, I’ve actually found I really enjoy the production side of things which has surprised me.

One of your tracks is the latest single ‘Delicate Things’. What was the story/inspiration behind that song?

Dave: I’ll leave that to Dinet

Dinet: Ah yes, one of my faves. The music for that song actually was already written a few years ago by Dave. I was playing with it for quite some time and the lyrics came after reading a piece about Trump; how he talked about states in his country and how he’d say that in his eyes some states are not even worth flying over and he would refer to these places as ‘fly over countries’. I could not imagine that a president of a country would talk about places and people in his own country! So I started thinking about people living in them and how they’d been completely forgotten by everyone. And yet, even if you think that all is lost, and you’ve lost people around you; the things that are worthwhile are free. That is also what in the end the song and the video are about.

 Do you have any friends/special guests who joined you on the album?

Dave: We do, I have always thought a very talented guest can help to keep an album fresh so I’m always keen to ask for their help. The first guest we had ‘booked’ was Neil Fairclough who now plays for Queen, he’s an old college friend of mine and Leon’s, we go way back. I’ve always wanted to record with Neil so when I booked him to record some tracks on Glimmer I also booked him in for the new album as I knew he would be back out with Queen at some point.

I then asked my best friend Steve Rothery from Marillion to guest on a track. I will never get used to the idea that my favourite guitar player is also my best mate, he is so melodic and I’m really happy with the way we matched These Tendencies to his playing as he really suits the track and his solo is ace.

We have Mark King from Level 42 on the song Talent To Failure, when I tell people it’s Mark they all say “I recognise that tone or playing”, he’s so distinctive and, like Rothers, a modern day god. My good friend and radio DJ Shaun Keaveny introduced me to Mark.

Carly Bryant (ex Big Big Train) guests on the song Queen of Maybe, she recorded loads of vocal parts to go alongside Dinet’s lead vocal. We connected straight away when we met on the first day in Big Big Train and I really hope to work more with Carly, she’s such an incredible talent.

I have also brought in MAIA to sing the backing vocals on The Optimist. MAIA will be a new name to many people but great things are expected of her. I’m part of the production team that is writing and recording songs for her. It’s very edgy pop music with lots of guitars. She is a world class talent that we’ll hear a lot more of over the next few years.

We also asked Anthony Hindley to play some piano and keyboards on a few tracks. Ant played keyboards in Mr. So & So during the Sugarstealer album, another world class player. There are few musicians I’ve come across in my life that are as jaw dropping as Ant, he’s incredible.

As always we have another of my closest friends Leon Parr on Drums, he’s so good and so easy to work with, it’s like having a family member around and makes life so much easier, what a great player he is.

Who created/designed the album artwork?

Dave: The cover image was taken by Japanese photographer Tsuki Kitsune. I found an image of his on Instagram which I really liked and followed my way to his profile. That’s where I saw this image. I love the way that the world is on your phone these days, everyone who wants to sell their art can be found now and that’s a beautiful thing. Another of my very talented friends Neal Moran then helped to sort the layout of the album and help with its optical identity.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals etc?

Dave: I have three guitars that I consider ‘home’ : my floral Ibanez Jem 77FP, my Ibanez Jigsaw RG20063 which I’ve used for ages now and also my newish Tom Anderson Angel which is the black guitar that I use a lot with SRB. Aside from that, if I can use my Bogner Ecstacy 101b amp then I feel totally at home.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

Dave: St. Helens in Merseyside. Five words?………The land that time forgot.

Dinet: Well, I think Nijmegen (and Dave can concur that) is a very cool place to live. It’s the oldest city in The Netherlands and still has a lot of Roman influences. I went to University there (I majored in Neuropsychology) and kind of hung around after that.

Do you have any plans for live shows in Europe/UK in 2024?

Dave: Yes, we are looking at ways to finance some shows as it is a very expensive business, but yes, that’s the plan, either 2024 or 2025.

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

Dave: Walking on Glass by Iain Banks, that answer came out straight away. I was mesmerised by that book, Iain Banks was such an incredible weaver of multiple story lines and this is the best example of it for me. The three story lines would be great to score music over.

Dinet: The solitude of prime numbers by Paolo Giardano. It’s a heartfelt story about a friendship between two teens who have had tragedies happen to them. If you have not read it, please do. I think we could write beautiful music to this story.

Which of your new album tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

Dave: That’s a great question. I would say happiest would be Queen of Maybe. I wrote the lyrics to that on my phone while my wife Clare was sleeping on my lap. That was definitely a very happy moment. We adjusted the viewpoint of the track so Dinet could sing it.

Dinet: I second that, it’s such a great and happy love song that Dave wrote for and about Clare

Dave: Angriest would be Whirling of Whales, the middle section is quite aggressive and involves a lot of guitar abuse, so probably that one.

Dinet: Also agreed. The chorus even has the line in it ’Hey! I’ve got something to say!’

Dave: Most reflective…I’m going to say These Tendencies, only because I had been listening to a lot of U2 at the point that I was writing that, particularly The Unforgettable Fire as it meant so much to me as a teenager so maybe there’s a musical link between them.

Dinet: Also agreed, haha! These tendencies is about a pattern of feelings that one can have because of situations you are in. But, are they real feelings or mere tendencies that you give in to.. Am I making sense…?:)

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

Dave: Formative influences would be Yes, King Crimson, U2, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and Frank Zappa. More recently I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to a lot of bands that many of my friends have never heard of such as Bon Iver (I’m a huge fan), Lanterns on the Lake, M83, Hammock and Fink. As for a recommendation, I think that the album ‘22, A Million’ by Bon Iver is work of utter genius and also ‘Spook The Herd’ by Lanterns on the Lake which is my most played album.

Dinet: Lanterns on the lake, M83, Kim Wilde, Half Moon Run, Blondie, Radiohead, Taylor Swift, Slowdive, Unbelievable truth, Boy Genius, wolf Alice, Nothing but Thieves.

With Lanterns on the Lake and Half Moon Run being bands you must’ve seen live..

Was it a difficult album to write?

Dave: Dave Foster Band albums are so easy to write, which is why I think it works as well as it does. Dinet is like a sister to me, we work so well together and are relaxed in each other’s company, which is a great headspace to be in when writing and recording.

Dinet: It was an album that just kinda happened and needed to exist after ‘Glimmer’. It’s an album that starts where ‘Glimmer’ ends if you will.

How do you look after your voices?

Dave: I’ll leave that to Dinet as I’m not much of a singer.

Dinet: I guess being aware that you need to take care of it. So warming up, rehearsing regularly and no smoking – yuk!

What makes Dave Foster Band happy and what makes you unhappy?

Dave: Being acknowledged for what we do is really all we are looking for. It’s treating art in the correct way, we make music because we want our art to exist so when we release it into the wild it’s always lovely to hear when someone else connects with our art. Very little makes me unhappy.

Dinet: Totally agree. If someone who hears the music connects with it, it’s a beautiful thing.